Interface for Bridging Out-of-Band Information from a Downstream Communication Link to an Upstream Communication Link

ABSTRACT

A device includes a first interface to receive a signal from a first communication link, wherein the receive signal includes out-of-band (OOB) information. A detector coupled to the first interface detects the OOB information. An encoder coupled to the detector encodes the OOB information into one or more symbols (e.g., control characters). A second interface is coupled to the encoder and a second communication link (e.g., a serial transport path). The second interface transmits the symbols on the second communication link. The device also includes mechanisms for preventing false presence detection of terminating devices.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.16/780,818, filed Feb. 3, 2020, which is a continuation of U.S.application Ser. No. 16/276,277, filed Feb. 14, 2019, now U.S. Pat. No.10,552,358, which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.15/785,334, filed Oct. 16, 2017, now U.S. Pat. No. 10,210,126, which isa continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 14/691,487, filed Apr. 20,2015, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,792,241, which is a continuation U.S.application Ser. No. 13/710,401, filed Dec. 10, 2012, now U.S. Pat. No.9,021,174, which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.12/752,010, filed Mar. 31, 2010, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,332,563, which is acontinuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/274,316, filed Nov.19, 2008, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,694,059, which is a continuationapplication of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/014,260, filed Dec.15, 2004, entitled “Interface Bridging Out-of-Band Information andPreventing False Presence Detection of Terminating Device,” now U.S.Pat. No. 7,461,192, which are incorporated herein by reference in theirentirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The disclosed embodiments relate generally to data communicationsystems, and in particular to embodiments for bridging out-of-band (OOB)information across one or more intermediate devices, located between afirst device and another device, and for preventing false presencedetection of terminating devices.

BACKGROUND

Since the advent of the first microprocessor, the exponential growth incomputing power has driven a similar need for increased datacommunication transfer rates. For internal data communications between acomputer and its memory or internal peripherals, a shared bus has beenthe conventional interface structure. An example of a conventionalinternal data bus structure is the PCI interface. The PCI bus is ahigh-performance successor to the original IBM PC internal peripheralbus, the ISA bus. Even with a 133 MB/s data rate, the PCI bus has beenextended to keep up with the data transfer needs of more powerfulprocessors by doubling the clock rate from 33 MHz to 66 MHz, doublingthe data path width from 32 bits to 64 bits, and including multi-rateclocking and a more efficient data transfer protocol.

Despite these extensions, the parallel PCI bus may eventually bereplaced by a high-speed serial link architecture called PCI EXPRESS.The PCI EXPRESS architecture uses low-voltage differential signaling, apacket-based data transmission protocol and an extendable high-speeddata rate beginning at 2.5 Gb/s. A typical PCI EXPRESS implementationmay use a four-wire interface to provide a bi-directional transmitsignal path and receive signal path. Such an implementation would use afirst pair of wires to transmit a differential signal along aunidirectional signal path for transmitting data from a transmitter on afirst device to a receiver on a second device, and a second pair ofwires would be used to transmit another differential signal alonganother unidirectional signal path for transmitting data from atransmitter on the second device to a receiver on the first device.Although more wires are required per data bit than with someconventional data buses, the PCI EXPRESS message-based protocol andembedded clocking eliminates the need for many of the data controlsignals required by systems that utilize such conventional data buses.

Despite the advantages of the PCI EXPRESS architecture, implementing thePCI EXPRESS protocol in a data communication system can be difficult andexpensive. For example, the PCI EXPRESS protocol includes physicalsignaling to indicate OOB state information (e.g., Electrical Idle,Receive Detect, Beacon Signal, etc.). If the two end devices of aserial, high-speed communication link support physical OOB signaling,then one or more intermediate devices in the link (e.g., a repeater,multiplexer/demultiplexer, a router, bridge, hub or the like) may alsoneed to support physical OOB signaling.

Additionally, the PCI EXPRESS protocol includes presence detection andloss of signal (LOS) mechanisms for detecting missing or failedterminating devices (e.g., a “missing” graphics card that has beenremoved from a socket at one end of the PCI EXPRESS bus). If there areone or more intermediate devices in the link between an originatingdevice (e.g., a microprocessor or computer chipset) and a terminatingdevice (e.g., a graphics processor, graphics card, sound card, host busadaptor, network interface card, secondary processor or microcontroller,or other peripheral or supplemental device), then there is a possibilityof false presence detection of the terminating device. In this case, theintermediate device may mask from the originating device the trueconnection status of the terminating device. While the originatingdevice may be able to detect a missing or failed terminating device at ahigher layer in the protocol stack (e.g., a logical layer above thephysical layer), such detection may result in a loss of cycle time andpower, which may be unacceptable for some applications.

Accordingly, mechanisms for bridging OOB information across a sequenceof interfaces and/or for preventing false presence detection ofterminating devices are desired.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a better understanding of the embodiments, reference should be madeto the following detailed description taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a presence detection system.

FIG. 2A is a graph of a differential voltage signal illustratingpresence detection.

FIG. 2B is a block diagram of a communication link with an intermediatedevice illustrating false presence detection.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the intermediate deviceshown in FIG. 2B, including circuitry for preventing false presencedetection of terminating devices.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a multiplexed communication link withmultiple originating devices and terminating devices illustratingsignaling of OOB information.

FIG. 5 is a graph of a differential voltage signal illustrating OOBinformation.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the downstreamintermediate device shown in FIG. 4.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the downstreamintermediate device shown in FIG. 6.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating bi-directional signal flow between theupstream and downstream intermediate devices shown in FIG. 4.

FIG. 9 is a flow diagram of an embodiment of a process for encoding OOBinformation.

FIG. 10 is a flow diagram of an embodiment of a process for decoding OOBinformation.

Like reference numerals refer to corresponding parts throughout thedrawings.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

Reference will now be made in detail to embodiments, examples of whichare illustrated in the accompanying drawings. In the following detaileddescription, numerous specific details are set forth in order to providea thorough understanding of the embodiments. However, it will beapparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that these and otherembodiments may be practiced without these specific details. In otherinstances, well-known methods, procedures, components, and circuits havenot been described in detail so as not to unnecessarily obscure aspectsof these and other embodiments.

In some embodiments, the disclosed technology comprises a first devicethat includes a first interface having an input for coupling the firstdevice to a first communication link. The first interface can receive asignal via the first communication link. The signal may includeout-of-band (OOB) information. The OOB information, or a subset of theOOB information, may represent physical layer signals (e.g., electricalor optical signal states). The first device also includes a detector,coupled to the first interface, for detecting the OOB information. Anencoder coupled to the detector and the first interface encodes the OOBinformation into one or more symbols (e.g., control characters). Thefirst device also includes a second interface that is coupled to theencoder. The second interface has an output for coupling the secondinterface to a second communication link (e.g., a serial transportpath). The second interface transmits the symbols on the secondcommunication link.

In some embodiments, an intermediate device that is coupled to first andsecond communication links has the ability to prevent a first devicecoupled to first communication link from falsely detecting a seconddevice coupled to a second communication link. In some embodiments, theintermediate device includes a receiver, which is coupled to the firstcommunication link, to receive data from the first device. Theintermediate device may include one or more switches for switchablycoupling a termination network (e.g., a resistive network) to inputs ofthe receiver. An actuator, coupled to the switches, may control thestate of the switches in response to a connection status signalindicating whether a second device is coupled to the secondcommunication link.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a conventional presence detection system100. The system 100 includes an originating device 102 capacitivelycoupled to a terminating device 104 via a serial link 112 (e.g., PCIEXPRESS transport path). The system 100 can be any data communicationsystem that includes presence detection capability, such as a personalcomputer (PC) with a PCI EXPRESS architecture. In a PC employing PCIEXPRESS architecture, the originating device 102 may be, for example, amicroprocessor or computer chipset and the terminating device 104 maybe, for example, a peripheral device, such as a graphics processor,graphics card, sound card, host bus adaptor, network interface card,secondary processor or microcontroller, other peripheral or supplementaldevice or the like.

The originating device 102 generally includes a transmitter 106 and apresence detection circuit 108. The terminating device 104 generallyincludes a termination network 114 and a receiver 110. Although device102 is described as an “originating” device and device 104 is describedas a “terminating device”, it should be understood that device 102 wouldtypically include additional circuitry for receiving signals and device104 would typically include additional circuitry for transmittingsignals. Devices 102 and 104 would, furthermore typically includeadditional circuitry to perform other functions. To facilitate asimplified conceptual description of the system 100, such additionalcircuitry is represented as “Other Circuits” in FIG. 1.

During operation of the originating device 102 (e.g., during systeminitialization), a differential signal is transmitted on the serial link112. In some devices, the presence detection circuit 108 detects thefact that the termination device 104 is coupled to serial link 112 usingknown techniques to measure the rate of change of the differentialvoltage signal on the serial link 112. The rate of change of thedifferential voltage signal is influenced at least in part by theresistive-capacitive (RC) time constant associated with the RC circuitformed by the termination network 114 and the AC coupling capacitance CLof the serial link 112.

FIG. 2A is a graph of a differential voltage signal illustrating thedifference in the rate of change of a differential voltage signal forcases where a terminating device 104 is connected to and disconnectedfrom an originating device 102. It can be observed from FIG. 2A, thatwhen the terminating device 104 is connected to the originating device102 the voltage will pull-up or pull-down more slowly. When theterminating device 104 is not connected to the originating device 102,the voltage will pull-up or pull-down more quickly. The presencedetection circuit 108 uses known techniques to detect this rate ofchange and to alert the originating device 102 in the event that theterminating device 104 is disconnected, so that an appropriate actioncan be taken by the system 100.

FIG. 2B is a block diagram illustrating the problem of false presencedetection that can occur when an intermediate device 200 is connectedbetween an originating device 102 and the terminating device 104. Itshould be apparent that the terms “originating device” and “terminatingdevice” are used solely to facilitate the description of the disclosedembodiments and should not be construed to imply the ability orinability of a particular embodiment to source and/or terminate signals.The intermediate device 200 can be any device located between theoriginating device 102 and the terminating device 104, including, forexample, a multiplexer/demultiplexer, a router, bridge, hub or the like.A false presence detection occurs when the presence of the intermediatedevice 200 on the link 112 is mistakenly interpreted by a presencedetection circuit or logic, such as the presence detection circuit 108,in the originating device 102 as indicating a positive connection statusof the terminating device 104. Thus, the intermediate device 200effectively masks from the originating device 102 the true connectionstatus of the terminating device 104. While the originating device 102may be able to detect a missing or failed terminating device 104 at ahigher layer in the protocol stack (e.g., at a logical layer), suchdetection may result in a loss of cycle time and power, which may beunacceptable for some applications. In particular, when an intermediatedevice 200 is included in the link 112, and the link 112 is a PCIEXPRESS transport path, it would be highly desirable for theintermediate device to be capable of sensing the presence or absence ofthe terminating device 104 using physical layer signal processingmethods, and to make itself transparent (i.e., “invisible” to theoriginating device 102) if the terminating device 104 is not present.Otherwise, the originating device 102 will detect the presence of theintermediate device 200 and may enter a compliance state (after logictimeout). In PCI EXPRESS systems, exiting a compliance state after afalse detection of a terminating device may require a hard reset(sometimes called a “fundamental reset”) of the system, which may beunacceptable for some applications.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the intermediate device200 shown in FIG. 2B, including circuitry for preventing false presencedetection of terminating devices. In some embodiments, the intermediatedevice 200 may receive differential signals from an originating device(not shown), such as the originating device 102, via a receiver 302 andan upstream receive link 304, to encode the received signal into symbolsusing an encoder 312, and to transmit differential signals correspondingto symbols to a terminating device (not shown), such as terminatingdevice 104, via a transmitter 306 and a downstream transmit link 308.Similarly, the intermediate device 200 may receive differential signalscorresponding to symbols from a terminating device via a receiver 324and a downstream receive link 322, to decode the symbols using a decoder330, and to transmit differential signals to an originating device via atransmitter 328 and an upstream transmit link 326.

Note that the terms “upstream” and “downstream” are used solely tofacilitate the description of the embodiments and should not beconstrued to imply the ability or inability of an embodiment to sourceand/or terminate signals. While the intermediate device 200 isconfigured for use with a differential signaling system, it should beapparent that the intermediate device 200 can be modified for use with asingle-ended signaling system. Therefore, in some embodiments one ormore of the links, such as upstream receive link 304, downstreamtransmit link 308, downstream receive link 322 and upstream transmitlink 326, may be single-ended. In addition, one or more links to theoriginating device and/or the terminating device may be bi-directional.The intermediate device 200 is suitable for use with a PCI EXPRESSarchitecture, but can be modified to work other protocols that includepresence detection capability.

During operation (e.g., system initialization), the intermediate device200 receives differential signals from the upstream originating devicevia the upstream receive link 304. The upstream receive link 304 iscoupled to the receiver 302 via a termination network 310 forterminating the upstream receive link 304. In some embodiments, thetermination network 310 is coupled to the upstream receive link 304 viaswitches SW₁ and SW₂. The switches SW₁ and SW₂ are controlled by anactuator 316 coupled to signal lines 318 and 320. In some embodiments,the actuator 316 can be implemented with one or more logic devices, suchas an OR gate or a NOR gate. The signal line 318 is coupled to apresence detection circuit 314, which, in turn, is coupled to thetransmitter 306 for transmitting differential signals corresponding tothe symbols via the downstream transmit link 308. The signal line 320 iscoupled to the receiver 324. Receiver 324 receives differential signalscorresponding to symbols from the terminating device (not shown) via thedownstream receive link 322. If the terminating device is disconnectedfrom the downstream transmit link 308, then the presence detectioncircuit 314 will sense the disconnection and send a connection statussignal to the actuator 316 via the signal line 318 indicating thedisconnected status. The presence detection circuit 314 may detect thedisconnection in the same manner as described above with reference toFIG. 2A. Alternately, the presence detection circuit 314 may detect thedisconnection using any other technique suitable for detecting thepresence, or lack of presence, of a device on link 308. In yet otherembodiments, a “loss of signal” condition on a return link 322 may beindicative of the lack of a terminating downstream device. In suchembodiments, presence detection circuit 314 may be eliminated in favorof a “loss of signal” detector (shown in FIGS. 3 and 7 as being includedin receivers 324 and 704, respectively).

It may be noted that a presence detection signal and a “loss of signal”condition are both examples of physical layer signals that may bedetected and handled by physical layer circuitry and protocols. Physicallayer signals represent signal or connection states, and many signal orbus protocols include protocols for handling one or more physical layersignals at the physical layer of a protocol stack. Since physical layersignals represent signal and connection states, it is important toquickly detect and react to the condition or conditions represented bythese physical layer signals. Failure to do so will typically result ina significant delay in detecting the condition or conditions, typicallyby software at a higher protocol layer than the physical layer.

In some embodiments, if the terminating device is connected to thedownstream receive link 322 but has otherwise failed (e.g., a loss ofsignal persists for at least a predefined, threshold period of time),then the receiver 324 will send a connection status signal to theactuator 316 via the signal line 320 indicating the loss of signalstatus. In addition, when a loss of signal (LOS) is detected by receiver324, the transmitter 328 is disabled, for example by tri-stating itsoutput. However, in some embodiments, the terminating device coupled tothe other end of the downstream transmit link 308 may go into an“Electrical Idle” mode, where both the + and − outputs of thetransceiver 328 are set to the same voltage, e.g. a common mode voltage.In these embodiments, the “loss of signal” is indicative of an “idle”device but not necessarily a disconnected device. Therefore, in theseembodiments, the LOS signal on signal line 320 is not coupled to theactuator 316, because the LOS state (by itself) does not mean that thedownstream device is not present.

In response to the signals on signal lines 318 and 320, the switches SW₁and SW₂ can be commanded by the actuator 316 to either an opened stateor closed state resulting in either disconnection, when the switches arein the open state, or connection, when the switches are in the closedstate, of the termination network 310 from the upstream receive link304. When the termination network 310 is disconnected from the upstreamreceive link 304, the line characteristics of the upstream receive link304 are similar to the line characteristics of the link 304 when thereis no terminating device connected to the link 304. These linecharacteristics may be observed by the originating device, essentiallymaking the intermediate device 200 transparent or “invisible” to apresence detect circuit, such as the presence detection circuit 108, inthe originating device. In another embodiment, switches are used toreplace the low impedance resistors of the termination network 310 withhigh impedance resistors when the circuitry of the intermediate device200 determines that a terminating device (i.e., on link 308 and/or link322) is not present.

The false presence detection avoidance technique described above for asingle intermediate device 200 can be extended to multiple intermediatedevices connected in series. If a terminating device is disconnected, orotherwise fails, the intermediate device 200 directly connected to thefailed terminating device can react to the change in linecharacteristics of its downstream transmit and/or receive links 308,322, as previously described. In response to a change in linecharacteristics, the intermediate device 200 can reconfigure itsupstream termination network 310 to change the line characteristics ofits upstream receive link 304, which, for this example, is assumed to beconnected to another upstream intermediate device 200. In someembodiments, multiple terminating devices may share the same serialtransport path with the downstream intermediate device (e.g., bridge,hub, router, etc.). In these embodiments, OOB information containingpresence detection information for each terminating device can be sentto the upstream intermediate device in a multiplexed signal via a serialtransport path. For instance, the multiplexed signal may be timedivision multiplexed, with data signals and OOB informationcorresponding to each terminating device occupying a predefined timeslice of the multiplexed signal. Such systems are described more fullybelow with respect to FIGS. 4-8.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a communication link 400,including an upstream intermediate device 404 and a downstreamintermediate device 406. The upstream intermediate device 404 is coupledto one or more originating devices 402. The downstream intermediatedevice 406 is coupled to one or more terminating devices 408. Theupstream intermediate device 404 is coupled to the downstreamintermediate device 406 via a serial transport path 410. The serialtransport path may include one or more signal lines. The one or moresignal lines may comprise a bus. Each of the originating and terminatingdevices 402, 408, are coupled to the intermediate devices 404, 406 via a“Lane.” While FIG. 4 represents each of the “Lanes” as beingbidirectional, in some embodiments a “Lane” may be unidirectional. Thus,each “Lane” includes at least a transmit signal path. For a differentialsignaling system, a “Lane” includes at least a transmit signal path.When a Lane is bidirectional, the Lane includes both a transmit signalpath and a receive signal path. For a differential signaling system, abidirectional Lane includes a transmit signal pair and a receive signalpair. As a result, when the system shown in FIG. 4 includesbidirectional Lanes using differential signaling, the intermediatedevices 404 and 406 include at least a four-wire interface for eachLane. The originating 402, terminating 408 and intermediate devices(404, 406) can communicate with each other via the serial transport path410 using communication protocols and PHY layer standards, including butnot limited to PCI EXPRESS and protocols such as the SATA protocol.

In some embodiments, the intermediate devices 404 and 406 may includeserial multiplexers/demultiplexers. In such embodiments, and duringoperation, data packets originating from the originating devices 402 aremultiplexed into one or more serial bit streams by the upstreamintermediate device 404 and transmitted onto one or more serialtransport paths 410. For ease of explanation, a system using one serialbit stream and one serial transport path 410 will be discussed, but thefollowing explanation is equally applicable to embodiments using two ormore parallel bit streams and serial transport paths 410. Furthermore,data packets may be sent from the terminating devices 408 to theoriginating devices 402, for example using a parallel set of signalpaths, and the following explanation is also applicable to that datastream (except that the roles of the various devices are reversed).Returning to the discussion of the data packets being transmitted froman originating device 402 to a terminating device 408, the serial bitstream is received and demultiplexed by the downstream intermediatedevice 406 into individual packets which are routed to the appropriateterminating device 408. In some PHY layer standards, OOB stateinformation is transmitted using PHY layer signaling (e.g., electrical,optical). For example, in the PCI EXPRESS protocol, an “Electrical Idle”signal can be represented by a common mode differential voltage level(V_(cm)), as shown in FIG. 5. Other PCI EXPRESS OOB information includesBeacon signals. The SATA protocol also includes OOB signaling (e.g.,SATA COMReset/COMInit, COMwake).

To transmit physical layer OOB information from an originating device,such as originating device 402 a, to a terminating device, such asterminating device 408 a, would typically require the intermediatedevices 404 and 406 to include circuitry that can detect and identifyOOB information. Such a capability would typically require modificationof the intermediate devices 404 and 406, which may be too costly forsome applications. To avoid such modification, an encoding scheme can beemployed, as discussed next with respect to FIGS. 6-8.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the downstreamintermediate device 406 shown in FIG. 4. It may be noted that theupstream intermediate device 404 may have the same or similar structureas the downstream intermediate device 406. Therefore, the followingdescription of an embodiment of the downstream intermediate device 404is also a description of an embodiment of the upstream intermediatedevice 404. The intermediate device 406 includes a parallel interfacecircuit 602, a first encoder/decoder (“codec”) 604A, aserializer/deserializer (SERDES) 606, a second codec 604B and a serialinterface circuit 608. For a differential signaling system, the parallelinterface circuit 602 is configured to receive differential signals frommultiple lanes. In some embodiments, the differential signals include astream of in-band data signals and embedded clock data signals, which isextracted by a clock data recovery (CDR) circuit in the parallelinterface circuit 602 (not shown). The CDR is coupled to a receiver (notshown), which samples the symbols using a sample clock derived by theCDR from the embedded clock data signal using, for example, a phasecompensation circuit (e.g., delay-locked loop). In some embodiments,differential signals from the multiple lanes contain symbolscorresponding to encoded data signals. In these embodiments, datasignals are encoded at one or more of the terminating devices 408. Theparallel interface circuit 602 provides the sampled symbols to codec604A, which decodes the data signals using a decoding scheme, such as an8B/10B decoding scheme. An 8B/10B decoding scheme is used in severalknown communication protocols, including, for example, PCI EXPRESS,SATA, INFINIBAND, and XAUI. An 8B/10B decoding scheme exhibits manydesirable behaviors including a guaranteed maximum run length (e.g., amaximum run of 5 consecutive bits of identical value), a knowntransition density that can be indefinitely maintained and the abilityto detect many types of errors (e.g., single-bit errors). Additionally,the decoding scheme guarantees a bit stream with a balanced number of‘1’ and ‘0’ bits (also known as dc-free). The decoded data signals fromthe codec 604A is coupled to the SERDES 606, which serializes the datasignals into a serial bit stream. The serialized bit stream is providedto the second codec 604B, which encodes the serialized bit stream (e.g.,using an 8B/10B encoding scheme) and then forwards the symbolscorresponding to the encoded bit stream to the serial interface circuit608. The serial interface circuit 608 includes drivers (not shown) andother signal conditioning devices (not shown) for driving the bit streamonto the serial transport path 410 at voltage levels and at a frequencyappropriate for the selected communication protocol.

In embodiments in which the parallel data streams received via theparallel interface circuit 602 are not encoded, the first codec 604A maybe eliminated. However, in some embodiments, the data arriving atparallel interface circuit 602 is already 8B/10B encoded. In suchembodiments, codec 604A decodes each of the incoming 10B data streams soas to produce corresponding 8B data streams. These data streams are thencombined into a single stream by SERDES 606, and the resulting combineddata steam is encoded (e.g., using 8B/10B encoding) by codec 604B.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the downstreamintermediate device 406 shown in FIG. 6. The downstream intermediatedevice 406 includes an encoding path 701 and a decoding path 703. Theencoding path 701 generally includes a downstream receiver 704, an OOBinformation detector 706, an encoder 708 including an encoding table716, a serializer 710 and an upstream transmitter 712. The decoding pathgenerally includes an upstream receiver 724, a deserializer 722, adecoder 720 including a decoding table 728 and a downstream transmitter718. While the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 7 uses differentialsignals, other embodiments may use single-ended signals. Theintermediate device 406 may also typically include additional circuitrythat has been omitted from FIG. 7 to facilitate a simplified descriptionof certain aspects of the intermediate device 406.

Note that FIG. 7 shows only a single differential signal “Lane” (e.g.,“Lane 1” in FIGS. 4 and 6) on the downstream side. It should beapparent, however, that there could be multiple differential signallanes on the downstream side that provide both in-band data and OOBinformation to be multiplexed into a single serial bit stream fortransmission to the upstream intermediate device 404 via the serialtransport path 410. The additional lanes would operate in a similarmanner to the operation of Lane 1 described below.

During operation, incoming in-band data is received by the downstreamreceiver 704 from the downstream receive link 702 and encoded by theencoder 708. In embodiments in which the intermediate device 406receives two or more streams of symbols corresponding to in-band datasignals (e.g., using two or more receivers 704), the plurality of thesymbol steams may be routed to the encoder 708 via a multiplexer 709. Insome embodiments, the encoder 708 implements an 8B/10B encoding scheme.The encoded data is serialized by the serializer 710 and transmitted toa terminating device by the upstream transmitter 712 via the upstreamtransmit link 714. The OOB information detector 706 monitors thedifferential input of the downstream receiver 704 to determine if anoriginating device coupled to the downstream receive link 702 istransmitting OOB information (e.g., Electrical Idle, Beacon, etc.) oractual data. The OOB information detector 706 may also monitor thedownstream transmitter 718 to determine if the presence detect circuitry730 of the transmitter 718 has detected the lack of a downstream device.In response to a detection of OOB information, the OOB informationdetector 706 sends a signal to the encoder 708 identifying the detectedOOB information. In response to the signal, the encoder 708 selects apredefined symbol from the encoding table 716 to be transmitted in placeof the identified OOB information. In some embodiments using an 8B/10Bencoding scheme, the encoding table 708 includes a set of predefinedcontrol characters (“K” characters”) as shown in Table I below.

TABLE I Predefined Control Characters For 8B/10B Encoding Scheme NameABCDEFGH Abcdeifghj OOB Information K28.0 00111000 0011110100 SKP K28.100111100 0011111001 FTS K28.2 00111010 0011110101 SDP K28.3 001111100011110011 IDL K28.4 00111001 0011110010 Electric Idle K28.5 001111010011111010 COM K28.6 00111011 0011110110 Receiver Detect K28.7 001111110011111000 Beacon K23.7 11101111 1110101000 PAD K27.7 110111111101101000 STP K29.7 10111111 1011101000 END K30.7 01111111 0111101000EDB

In some embodiments, the K characters K.28.7 and K.28.4 can be used totransmit OOB information. For example, in a system employing PCIEXPRESS, the OOB information detector 706 would detect a zero commonmode voltage (V_(cm) ˜0) at the inputs of the receiver 704 as anElectrical Idle signal. The OOB information detector 706 would then senda signal to the encoder 708 indicating the type of OOB information thatwas detected (i.e., Electrical Idle, Beacon, etc.). The encoder 708would then look-up a predefined symbol (e.g., “K28.4”) in the encodingtable 716 that had been previously assigned to the Electrical Idle OOBinformation. The encoder 708 would provide the predefined symbol to theserializer 710 for transmission on the upstream transmit link 714 viathe upstream transmitter 712. If the OOB information detector 706 nolonger detects an Electric Idle signal, a second signal is sent to theencoder 708 indicating that the incoming data signal is actual anin-band data signal. The encoder 708 would then cease sending thepredefined symbol and start or restart its standard encoding process forthe actual in-band data signal (e.g., 8B/10B encoding).

It should be apparent that any suitable K characters in Table I can beused to transmit OOB information. Suitable K characters include bitpatterns that do not appear in any sequence of valid data bits,including overlapped data characters, and occur with a uniform alignmentrelative to byte boundaries to facilitate decoding. Note that if the OOBinformation include time multiplexed tri-state data (e.g., SATACOMReset/COMInit and COMWake), then the OOB information detector 706would include suitable circuitry for processing time multiplexed data(e.g., counters, timers, etc.).

One type of OOB information of particular note is the Receiver Detectsignal shown in Table I. The Receiver Detect signal is equivalent to thepresence detection signal and/or LOS signals described with respect toFIG. 3. In some embodiments, each downstream transmitter 718 for eachlane on the downstream side of the intermediate device 406 is coupled toa presence detect circuit 730 (sometimes called a receiver detectcircuit) for detecting the presence of a downstream receiver (e.g., areceiver in a terminating device 408). In some embodiments, an LOSsignal is also provided to the encoder 708 by the downstream receiver704. In some embodiments, the Receiver Detect signal is conveyed onlybetween intermediate devices, such as 404 and 406, and is not conveyedto or by either the terminating device(s) 408 or the originatingdevice(s) 402.

The Receiver Detect signals can be encoded by the encoder 708 using theencoding table 716 and transmitted on the upstream link 714 via theupstream transmitter 712. The encoded Receiver Detect signals can bedecoded by the upstream intermediate device (e.g., intermediate device404) and used to change the line characteristics of the upstreamdifferential signal lanes coupled to originating devices (e.g.,originating devices 402), as previously described with respect to FIG.3. In some embodiments, the Receiver Detect signals are bi-directionaland both the upstream and downstream intermediate devices can detect thepresence of originating and terminating devices, respectively, andencode such signals for transmission to the other intermediate device,so that the appropriate remedial action can be taken. In someembodiments, remedial action includes, but is not limited to,disconnecting the appropriate termination networks to make theintermediate device transparent or “invisible” to the originating orterminating devices, as previously described with respect to FIG. 3.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating bi-directional signal flow between theupstream and downstream intermediate devices 404 and 406 shown in FIG.4. Note that the OOB information (e.g., Receiver Detect signals) can beused as actuator signals (see, e.g., signals 318, 320 in FIG. 3) todisconnect or connect termination networks to make the intermediatedevice transparent to originating or terminating devices.

In systems having multiple terminating devices, as shown in FIG. 4, OOBinformation must convey Lane status or state for each of the terminatingdevices. In one embodiment, this is accomplished using a control Kcharacter to identify the type of OOB information, and using timedivision multiplexing to transmit the information for each Lane in aseparate time slice. In another embodiment, this accomplished by using atwo character protocol comprising a control K character to identify thetype of OOB information followed immediately by a Lane or terminatingdevice identifier character that identifies the Lane or terminatingdevice to which the OOB information applies. The intermediate device(s)convert the two character OOB information sequences into correspondingcontrol signals or physical layer signals, which are then conveyed tothe appropriate originating devices, as identified by the lane orterminating device identifier in the OOB information sequence.

Referring again to FIG. 7, incoming symbols corresponding to datasignals and/or OOB information from the upstream intermediate device(e.g., intermediate device 404) is received by the upstream receiver 724via the upstream receive link 726, deserialized by the deserializer 722and decoded by the decoder 720 using the decoding table 728, which canbe the same as encoding table 716 in the encoder 708. If a predefinedsymbol is detected, then the decoder 720 identifies the type ofpredefined symbol detected, maps the identified predefined symbol to anOOB information type using the corresponding entry of the decoding table728, and transmits the OOB information to one or more downstream devices408 in place of the predefined symbol. In some instances, the OOBinformation is transmitted by instantiating a signal condition on thetransport path so as replicate the transport path state or signalcondition on an upstream transport path. In some embodiments, thedecoder 720 implements an 8B/10B decoding scheme. The decoded data istransmitted to the appropriate terminating device (e.g., terminatingdevice 408 a) by the downstream transmitter 718 via the downstreamtransmit link 732.

FIG. 9 is a flow diagram of an embodiment of a process 900 for encodingOOB information. While the process 900 described below includes a numberof operations that appear to occur in a specific order, it should beapparent that the process 900 operations are not limited to anyparticular order, and, moreover, the process 900 can include more orfewer operations, which can be executed serially or in parallel (e.g.,using parallel processors or a multi-threading environment).

The process 900 begins with the OOB information detector examining theincoming signal to determine whether an OOB information is present 902.If OOB information is not present, then the incoming data signal isencoded 910 and transmitted to an upstream intermediate device ororiginating device 912. In some embodiments, an 8B/10B encoding schemeis used. If OOB information is detected 902, then the OOB informationdetector identifies the type of OOB information 904, maps the identifiedOOB information to a predefined symbol (e.g., an unused “K” character)selected from, for example, an encoding table 906, and transmits thepredefined symbol to one or more upstream intermediate devices ororiginating devices in place of the OOB information 908, as previouslydescribed with respect to FIG. 7 (encode path). A similar method may beused for encoding and transmitting data signals and OOB information to adownstream intermediate device or terminating device.

FIG. 10 is a flow diagram of an embodiment of a process 1000 fordecoding OOB information. While the process 1000 described belowincludes a number of operations that appear to occur in a specificorder, it should be apparent that the process 1000 operations are notlimited to any particular order, and, moreover, the process 1000 caninclude more or fewer operations, which can be executed serially or inparallel (e.g., using parallel processors or a multi-threadingenvironment).

The process 1000 begins with the decoder examining the incoming signalto determine whether a predefined symbol is present 1002. If apredefined symbol is not present then the incoming actual data signal isdecoded 1008 and transmitted to a downstream intermediate or terminatingdevice 1010. In some embodiments, an 8B/10B decoding scheme is used. Ifa predefined symbol is detected 1002 then the decoder identifies thetype of predefined symbol detected 1004, maps the identified predefinedsymbol to an OOB information type selected from, for example, a decodingtable 1006, and transmits the OOB information to one or more downstreamdevices in place of the predefined symbol 1012, as previously describedwith respect to FIG. 7 (decode path). A similar process may be used fordecoding and transmitting data signals and OOB information to upstreamintermediate devices and originating devices.

Devices and circuits described herein can be implemented using computeraided design tools available in the art, and embodied by computerreadable files containing software descriptions of such circuits, atbehavioral, register transfer, logic component, transistor and layoutgeometry level descriptions stored on storage media or communicated bycarrier waves. Data formats in which such descriptions can beimplemented include, but are not limited to, formats supportingbehavioral languages like C, formats supporting register transfer levelRTL languages like Verilog and VHDL, and formats supporting geometrydescription languages like GDSII, GDSIII, GDSIV, CIF, MEBES and othersuitable formats and languages. Data transfers of such files on machinereadable media including carrier waves can be done electronically overthe diverse media on the Internet or through email, for example.Physical files can be implemented on machine readable media such as 4 mmmagnetic tape, 8 mm magnetic tape, 3½ inch floppy media, CDs, DVDs andso on.

The foregoing description, for purpose of explanation, has beendescribed with reference to specific embodiments. However, theillustrative discussions above are not intended to be exhaustive or tolimit the invention to the precise forms disclosed. Many modificationsand variations are possible in view of the above teachings. Theembodiments were chosen and described in order to best explain theprinciples of the invention and its practical applications, to therebyenable others skilled in the art to best utilize the invention andvarious embodiments with various modifications as are suited to theparticular use contemplated.

1-21. (canceled)
 22. A device to serve as an intermediary between an upstream device, via a first serial communication link, and a downstream device, via a second serial communication link, the device comprising: a receiver to receive, via the first serial communication link, an incoming signal from the upstream device; first circuitry to determine whether characteristics of the incoming signal received via the first serial communication link include information corresponding to an indication of Electrical Idle; and second circuitry to, based on a determination that characteristics of the incoming signal received via the first serial communication link include information corresponding to an indication of Electrical Idle, map the information to a corresponding symbol, and transmit the symbol to the downstream device via the second serial communication link.
 23. The device of claim 22, wherein the corresponding symbol comprises a predefined symbol corresponding to an Electrical Idle.
 24. The device of claim 22, wherein the second circuitry includes an encoder to encode OOB information into corresponding symbols, and the device includes a first output interface to transmit the symbols to the downstream device via the second serial communication link.
 25. The device of claim 24, wherein the corresponding symbol is a predefined symbol that corresponds to an Electrical Idle signal received via the first serial communication link, and the predefined symbol, generated by the encoder of the second circuitry, is a predefined K28.4 K character.
 26. The device of claim 24, wherein the first circuitry includes a detector coupled to the receiver to detect the characteristics of the incoming signal, the encoder is coupled to the detector, and the encoder encodes at least a portion of the characteristics of the incoming signal received by the receiver into a stream of data symbols corresponding to an in-band data signal.
 27. The device of claim 26, wherein the detector is configured to detect an Electrical Idle signal characteristic of the incoming signal, and the second circuitry is configured to provide a symbol corresponding to a detected Electrical Idle signal characteristic of the incoming signal.
 28. The device of claim 26, wherein the detector is configured to detect a Beacon signal characteristic of the incoming signal, and the predefined symbol provided by the second circuitry is configured to provide a symbol corresponding to a detected Beacon signal characteristic of the incoming signal.
 29. The device of claim 26, wherein the detector is configured to detect a common mode voltage characteristic of the incoming signal, and the predefined symbol provided by the second circuitry is configured to provide a symbol corresponding to a detected common mode voltage characteristic of the incoming signal.
 30. The device of claim 26, wherein characteristics of the incoming signal detectable by the detector include a zero common mode voltage characteristic.
 31. The device of claim 26, wherein the detector includes circuitry for detecting tri-state status of the incoming signal and, when the detector detects tri-state status of the incoming signal, the OOB information encoded by the encoder includes tri-state data.
 32. The device of claim 31, wherein the detector includes circuitry for processing time multiplexed data and, when the detector detects time-multiplexed tri-state data, the OOB information encoded by the encoder includes time-multiplexed tri-state data.
 33. A method of bridging signal characteristics information across a device, comprising: at an intermediary device coupled between an upstream device, via a first serial communication link, and a downstream device, via a second serial communication link: receiving, via the first serial communication link, an incoming signal from the upstream device; determining whether characteristics of the incoming signal received via the first serial communication link include information corresponding to an indication of Electrical Idle; and based on a determination that characteristics of the incoming signal received via the first serial communication link include information corresponding to an indication of Electrical Idle, mapping the information to a corresponding symbol, and transmit the symbol to the downstream device via the second serial communication link.
 34. The method of claim 33, wherein the corresponding symbol comprises a predefined symbol corresponding to an Electrical Idle signal received via the first serial communication link, and the predefined symbol is a predefined K28.4 K character.
 35. The method of claim 34, including encoding OOB information into a corresponding symbol, and transmitting the symbol to the downstream device via the second serial communication link.
 36. The method of claim 35, including encoding at least a portion of the characteristics of the incoming signal received from the upstream device into a stream of data symbols corresponding to an in-band data signal.
 37. The method of claim 35, including detecting a Beacon signal characteristic in the incoming signal, and providing to the downstream device a symbol corresponding to the detected Beacon signal characteristic of the incoming signal.
 38. The method of claim 35, including detecting a common mode voltage characteristic of the incoming signal, and providing to the downstream device a symbol corresponding to the detected common mode voltage characteristic of the incoming signal.
 39. The method of claim 33, including detecting a zero common mode voltage characteristic of the incoming signal, and providing to the second serial communication link a symbol corresponding to the detected zero common mode voltage characteristic of the incoming signal.
 40. The method of claim 35, wherein the OOB information includes tri-state data.
 41. An apparatus to serve as an intermediary between an upstream device, via a first serial communication link, and a downstream device, via a second serial communication link, the apparatus comprising: means for receiving, via the first serial communication link, an incoming signal from the upstream device; means for determining characteristics of the incoming signal received via the first serial communication link indicate out-of-band (OOB) information; and means, responsive to a determination that characteristics of the incoming signal received via the first serial communication link indicate specific OOB information, for mapping the specific OOB information to a predefined symbol corresponding to the specific OOB information, and transmitting the predefined symbol to the downstream device via the second serial communication link. 